


Before us

by ImaginaryDragons



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Cat and Kara endgame, F/F, Fluff, I do love her though, Lois comes to visit, Past Relationships, Slow Burn, a good bit of angst, but still, i can't promise that you will like lois lane after this, some clois
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-09 04:52:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12269280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaginaryDragons/pseuds/ImaginaryDragons
Summary: Lois was her past, and Kara may just be her future, but they keep intertwining. She has always been afraid of getting hurt, and logically she knows that Kara would never hurt her like Lois did. But she was scared, after all of the years she was still scared.Or, Cat and Lois used to date, not many people know what happened, but it is why Cat hates Lois, and Kara is wondering what happened between them





	1. Chapter 1

 

“Lois is going to be here tomorrow,” Kara sat down across from her at the table, they were out for their usual lunch, they had started eating lunch together when Cat had returned to national city. 

 

“I know, I do keep tags on that hag,” Cat casually took a sip from her glass, not bothering to give much of a second thought about Lois Lane.  It was the past after all and she may hold a grudge after all these years, but she did want to move forward, and Kara seemed to be that. 

 

“I thought you hated name calling” Kara smiled, knowing that for all of Cat’s hate of belittling other women she still had no problem calling Lois anything that popped into her mind. It was not as if she ever called Lois a whore or anything of that variety, but there was a malace a true malice behind it and Kara knew that, but she had no idea why.

 

“We both know that is not true, and either way Lois deserves it” Cat made a face similar to a snarl, Kara barely saw it before Cat was back to her usual unwavering business persona. Usually during their lunches Cat would not go into that, she would be more open, but the mere mention of Lois seems to have brought it on.

 

“Why does she deserve it though? You have never told me what she did that was so bad?” Kara tilted her head, she had thought about using the pout to get Cat to spill, but she was unsure if it would have the desired effect in this situation. 

 

“It was a long time ago,” She was avoiding it, avoiding the truth of what had happened. It was one of the reasons she had left the planet, not just because she wanted to start out on her own, no it was because she had been hurt, she had fled. 

 

“Just because it was a long time ago doesn’t mean that it wasn’t important” Kara set a hand on Cat’s shoulder, hoping that it would give the other woman some reason to reach out and tell her what she wanted to know.

 

“We should get back to work, Snapper is probably already yelling for you,” Cat’s voice lacked its usual tenacity to it, she was deflecting. It was not something she wanted to talk about, it was one of those things she wished had never happened, because it had left her broken.

 

“Of course, you run a multi billion dollar company I shouldn’t take up all of your time,” Kara looked down avoiding Cat’s eyes.

 

“Kara, I always have time for you, well almost always,” Cat corrected herself, and put a gentle hand on Kara’s arm to reassure the younger woman. 

 

Walking out of the restaurant they talked for a while more before Kara got ‘called by her sister’ to help with ‘a personal issue’, she had long since figured out that Kara was supergirl. Admittedly the first time she had figured out she had approached it atrociously, she deserved Kara not trusting her. What she had done had prayed on Kara’s need to be at Catco and she had tried to take that from her, she would always regret that. Eventually she would make up for it, and she would do everything she could do to earn back the trust she had thrown away. 

 

She walked into catco keeping her head high, Kara walked in behind her. Even after Cat had promoted her Kara still would bring her lunch and follow behind her like she was still her assistant. It had taken her longer than she would have liked to figure out that her feelings for Kara, were not as one sided as she had believed. The way kara would blush each time she complemented her, and the way Kara would always act around her. 

 

This week she knew was going to be a mess, with Lois coming around she would have to face the past, just as she had each time. Everything that had happened between them was something she never wanted to relive. If she played her card right she could avoid Lois for most of the week, and maybe keep things at a normal pace with Kara. Walking into the elevator she waved for Kara to follow her in, Kara hurried in after her. Just a year ago it would have been an insane sight to see Kara in her private elevator, but now it was almost normal to have Kara so close to her. 

 

They both walked off the elevator at the same time, Kara had a small skip to her step, the type that made her smile at the sight of it. The was Kara talked, the way she walked, everything about her was different than anyone else she had ever met. Kara was special in every sense of the word, and she loved it, not that she would ever say it out loud. She had never been very vocal with her affections, and Kara seemed to understand that, she was thankful that Kara could read her, read the approval and the care she had towards her. Whatever it was between them, it was growing with each day, and at some point it was going to come to a head. All Cat could do was hope that when that happened it would not end horribly, that she would not close herself off to Kara. 

 

Kara turned around and smiled at her, giving a small wave, that made Cat’s heart flutter, she was sure that Kara could hear it and she hated that. She was used to having control over these situations, having a mask so that none of her feelings shone out. It was one of the reasons that many of her past relationships had not worked out, she had masked everything, cept to herself. Even though the blame was not entirely hers the fact still remained. 

 

Eve was sitting at her desk looking through the same reports that Cat had rejected earlier that morning, it would likely keep the woman buist for the next few hours, it made her realize just how often Kara had likely used her powers to get things done quicker. It was one of the things that had led her to notice Kara’s super abilities, no one in the past had been able to actually meet her demands, but Kara always managed to. Even when she had no powers, Kara was better than any other person who had worked for her. It was a bias opinion but she was aware of that, after all she was slowly falling for Kara. 

 

Cat nodded in acknowledgement at Eve, as she entered her office, she had missed national city while she was away. Most of all she had found herself missing Kara, part of her knew that by leaving she had missed an opportunity, but the other part told her that if she had not she would have never realised how she felt towards Kara completely. 

 

Sitting down at her desk she opened up her top drawer to grab her written schedule for the week, she needed to add Lois’s schedule to it so that she could avoid her all the better. She had a reputation for arguing with Lois when they would see each other, and it was well deserved after all she was always out for blood when ever she came face to face with Lois. After everything that Lois had done, it made sense, and it was not something that she was proud of. 

 

It was one of the things she ran away from, her past with Lois, everything that she had left behind when she had walked out of the daily planet. It was not her fault that is what she always told herself,and it was at least partially true. 

 

* * *

**Flash back**

_ Walking out of the planet, she was holding a box of her things, i t was near 11pm, she knew that Lois would not be there, she was avoiding her. That was no secret, after everything that they had done, after all of the time together, Cat could not see her again. Lois used to work late, and even when she had stopped working late she had told Cat that she was. It was one of the many things that Lois lied about, and now that she knew just how much Lois had lied about it, stung. Looking back one final time she knew she would not return, it was her past now, and her future is one she was going to make herself.  _

 

_ The plan was never for her to stay at the planet, it was to move forward to create a name, a brand for herself. Now that she had the start up, had a foundation to build from she did not need the planet anymore, she could continue on her own. It was about time she moved forward anyways, so it was good timing, that was what she kept repeating, as she pushed away the tears and the pain. From the beginning it was going to end and she knew that, she knew it, but her heart did not understand that. Knowing and accepting things are two different problems, knowing is easy, accepting that is the part that breaks a person.  _

 

_ The planet was her past and she would never turn back to it, she was going to bury it under the force of her own empire. It was both for revenge against Lois, and to get back at Perry for all of the years of him being horrible to her, and also it was her dream so technically the revenge was just a plus. After everything she was not going to let it go, she had tried for months to forget it was happening, to pretend everything was going to be fine. It was not, it never had been fine, and now she was angry, angry and hurt, that had always been a deadly combination with her. It was one of the reasons that when she would get hurt she was able to write even better at times. She had learned when she was young, that she was not allowed to show her anger, she may get angry but she would never lose her temper fully.  _

 

_ One of hte few things her mother had taught her was to use her anger, her mother never meant to teach her that but the years of being overlooked and passed over no matter how hard she tried, had taught her. Her childhood had left her feeling alone at most times, especially after her father’s death, it was not something she told anyone, but she had told Lois. Now that everything was said and done, she regretted it, regretted everything that they were. With Lois she thought that maybe just maybe she had someone who would be there, and put her first. It did not work out that way though, she was leaving in the middle of the night, alone without telling anyone.  _

 

_ Earlier that day she had rented a moving van, she had all of their things packed, she had taken everything from her apartment, no one had even noticed. SHe had been secretive about it, and part of her was hoping that when Lois woke up that morning and found out that Cat was gone, then she would be hurt and she would blame herself. It was a petty thing but she wanted to hurt Lois, in whatever way she could. She had always been petty when it came to being hurt, it was one of her defence mechanism. It was always hard to break up, but this was the end to five years together, it had taken them only weeks to become near best friends, and it had been another two years before they had started dating.  _

 

_ Three years of dating, had been thrown away, all of the things they had accomplished together, it had all been flushed down the toilet. What Lois had done was destroying them, it was like tenthougsand cuts. Cat had to move on, had to get away, the planet was her past, Lois was the past and she had no plans of ever going back. Maybe one day she would look back and not feel pain in the pit of her stomach, but for now she would hurt and she would make others feel her hurt.  _

 

_ Getting into the truck she set her box of things in the passenger seat, she saw it, she had never meant to grab it, or then again she may have. It was a picture of her and Lois smiling at each other, they had just cracked one of the biggest stories of their carriers, they were a powerhouse duo, they had been a duo. They had just come out, well not to everyone but they had come out to most people, and they were happy. They had worked the story hard even though one particular person had tried to take it away from them at every turn. It had been a tooth and nail fight, they had one it, the night they finished the story they had celebrated over a bottle of fine wine that Cat may have stolen from her mother. Soon enough the both of them had found themselves kissing, the night had ended with their clothes thrown across Cat’s apartment and them left in a tangle of limbs.  _

 

_ There was a tear making its way down Cat’s face, she had been fighting the tears all night. Knowing that she had to move on and actually moving on, that was different, it hurt to leave it behind but she knew that all metropolis could do for her now was hold her back. She has to move forward, or she will only end up moving back, it is for the best.  _

 

* * *

 

 

Taking a deep breath Cat pushed away the memories on the edge of her mind, she did not want to go back and she never would. She was moving forward and she was better than ever, she had everything she needed and almost everything she wanted. Everything she had promised herself that she would get after she had left the planet, she had attained and it was more than Lois would ever have. The thought of that made her smile, after all of the years she still had not forgiven, it was her nature to hold a grudge, to remember when she was wronged. If she forgot then she would get hurt again and she was not the type of person idiotic enough to make that mistake. 

 

“Is everything alright Miss Grant,” Kara’s voice came from across the room, she was not sure how long Kara had been standing there but it was obviously long enough for her to notice that something was up.

 

“Everything is fine, well now it is, do you want to sit?” Cat motioned to the couch, she knew that whenever Kara came in it was usually to talk, after a few weeks of Cat being back Kara had found that Cat would offer little to no help with work unless it was an emergency that Kara could not handle herself. 

 

“Are you sure? I worry about you you know.” Kara came closer to Cat with a slight worry in her eyes, she always worried about Cat, that came with caring deeply for someone, and she cared for Cat, she could not bring herself to admit more than that to herself. 

 

“I am, now are we sitting or are you planning on trying to become my assistant again?” It had become a long standing joke between them, how Kara would fall back into assisting Cat and acting like she was still Cat’s assistant. 

 

Kara let out a small huff, she knew that Cat was not telling her everything, and she was avoiding the real issue. There was something bothering her, and it was not just Lois, there had been something on Cat’s mind for months. She had been avoiding it, they both had been avoiding it. The week was going to be hard on Cat, although Kara was excited to see both Lois and Clark again, she enjoyed Lois’s company. She would never tell Cat that thought, that was a certain way fro whatever it was between them to be thrown out the window. 

 

For Cat it was easy to smile around Kara, it was easy to realize why things had changed, she had everything she had wanted, she  had worked hard for it. Having Kara there, supporting her, that was something she wanted, it was something part of her needed, but she was not sure if it was what Kara wanted. That was what held her back, she would not move forward for fear of making Kara hate her, if she did that, she was not sure how she would live like that, being hated by the woman she lov-- no she cared for.

The smile on Kara’s face as she sat down next to Cat on the couch, made her heart speed up. It was the simple things that got to her, the way Kara would look down every time she was complemented. How when every Cat would joke about something Kara would throw her head back laughing. With Kara it was small things that made her fall, no she was not falling, Cat Grant does not fall for people, and she certainly does not ever fall for her ex assistant. 


	2. chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lois arrives in National City

When she got into work Cat was already in a bad mood, the whole floor was son high alert. Lois was going to be showing up that day, that means that anyone who managed to mess up could get fired on the spot. When she had gotten off the elevator that morning, Kara had been met by Eve running out crying. Letting out a breath Kra stepped out of the elevator and into the bull pin, she was going to do her best to contain the situation. Hopefully no one had been fired before she arrived, if they had there was no real chance that she would be able to get them their job back. The two coffee’s she had brought would help, she could drink her morning coffee with Cat, before the meeting with snapper. 

Lois always put Cat on edge, and it would only get worse as the day went on. Kara often wondered exactly why the two hated each other so much, from what little she did know, they had once been very close. She would have to ask Lois, Cat refused to talk about it and would shut her out any time she brought it up. Kara tried to push off the odd feeling she always got when Lois and Cat were together, she could never quite put her finger on what the feeling was. She walked into Cat’s office smiling, she knew that it was up to her to make sure that Cat did not go on a firing spree. It had happened before; during her first year as Cat’s assistant she had nearly fired Kara when Lois had arrived. 

“Good Morning Cat.” Kara could not help but smile as she said the other woman’s name, it was new to be able to call Cat anything other than Miss Grant. Cat had insisted that Kara should call her by her first name, after all they were friends, of sorts. They often bordered on more than a friendship.

Cat looked up from her computer, glasses perched on her nose while she had another pair pushed up. It was one of the more adorable things that Cat would do when she was frustrated, Kara never commented on it though. “It’s not a good morning Kara, you know that. How can it be a good morning with the harpy on her way here.” 

“I brought coffee if that would help?” Kara offered a small smile as she held out the coffee she had gotten for Cat. The stern look on Cat’s face softened and she grabbed the coffee from Kara’s hand. Kara’s heart skipped a beat as Cat’s fingers skimmed against her own, it was such a small thing, and she had experienced it multiple times, but yet it always left her heart racing. 

She knew that Kara could hear her heart beat, after all she was not an idiot. The glasses had only fooled her for a little while. “Thank you Kiera,” 

Kara rolled her eyes at the name, before she went to head towards her new office. They both knew that Cat knew Kara’s name. She rarely actually used it though; she wanted to keep some space between them. She needed to keep some space between them so that she would not cross a line. Cat took her coffee and headed to her own office. Some days like today she liked the glass walls of her office, she could see her employees move around like frightened ants. 

She got an odd kind of glee from the way that she could inspire fear with in her employees. Every person who had ever held a job at Catco had at one point or another been terrified of her, or run when she was angry; all of them except Kara. Kara was always different, she seemed to see the good in Cat. Kara didn’t usually get scared of her, no Kara would always start worrying for her. Kara had this affect on her that made Cat let down her walls. She would be softer on Kara, or at least she was now, lord knows she had been more harsh on the blonde for a long while. 

Admittedly Cat was scared of seeing Lois, it was always hard to see someone that broke your heart. She had once heard that if you loved someone no matter how long ago it will still hurt to see them, and if it doesn’t hurt then you never truly loved them. Maybe Lois never truly loved her but for Cat, Lois was one of the defining loves in her life. 

Kara had been snooping around more into the story of her and Lois, and part of Cat wanted to open up to tell Kara exactly what happened. In the end though she wasn’t ready to do that, because she was terrified that it would let Kara see how easily broken she could be broken. Kara didn’t need to see her past, she didn't need to know all the bad things that happened between her and Lois. Of course Cat wanted a future with Kara, but she was terrified that her knowing these things would break any chance at that. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She had been working at the Daily Planet for about three years so far when she met Lois. The dark haired woman was about a two years younger than her, she was just twenty, but yet she was climbing fast. Somehow she had been able to push her way up faster than Cat herself had. Part of Cat was jealous that the new cub reporter was climbing so quickly, but she wouldn't be not when Lois was that pretty. 

Lois wasn’t the soft and warm type but she was Cat’s type. She was strong and knew what she wanted, and there was just something about the way she held herself that Cat couldn’t resist. At first she was cold to Lois, she didn’t want to admit that she was attracted to the other woman, she didn’t even want to admit that the other woman was even working at the planet.

It was the nineties after all and she couldn’t handle if she let herself slip and outed herself to the office. Lord only knows what would happen if people found out, all of her dreams for creating a media empire would crumble. Things were getting better for queer people but it wasn’t good enough. She wasn’t ready to be outed, she didn’t have everything ready. One day she would be ready. 

“Cat, are you just going to keep glaring at Perry or are you going to actually confront him about giving your story to Snapper. He let Snapper just come in and steal your story.” Lois had come up behind her.

Cat spun around quickly, she hadn’t even heard Lois approach. “I’ll get snapper back for it. I will yell at Perry later.”

“Sure you will, if you were going to yell at him you would have yelled at him already. So you must be planning to do something else to make both snapper and Perry regret it.” Lois was smirking she knew that Cat wasn’t the type of person to let anything go without retaliating and Cat wasn’t going to let Snapper walk all over her. 

“I may be planning something to get back at both of them.” Cat said slyly. She was going to make Snapper look like a fool and Perry, would look a fool as well. Having chosen a reporter that couldn’t complete a big scoop. 

Lois leaned against Cat’s desk. “So are you going to tell me this plan or are you just going to keep it to yourself?” 

Cat let out a huff and leaned back in her chair. “Well first off I’m going to scoop him. I’m going to pull some strings and block him from getting the interview. I can get incontact with my sources and keep them silent towards him and he will end up with a half baked article and I will already have an expose completely prepared.” 

“So you are going to sabotage him?” Lois said raising an eyebrow. Journalism was a cut throat business, everyone in it knew that. Stealing stories wasn’t uncommon, but it was rare that someone would manage to get their story back. Cat wasn’t about to let Snapper get away with stealing hers. 

“Not sabotage so much as stop him from stealing my story.” Cat smiled, she knew Lois wasn’t judging her and would likely even be willing to help her. After all snapper had been the one who was using Lois as a glorified secretary. Making her fetch coffee and file everyone else's paperwork. While at first Cat had found it somewhat funny after seeing Lois treated like that for months she was tired of it. 

“Well if you need my help all you need to do is ask. I will be happy to help take Carr down a peg.” 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Lois walked into Catco she was greeted by Kara waiting at the front desk for her. Lois had hoped to bring Clark with her, but he had gotten called away on some space mission. He and one of the justice leaguers were off planet. Lois knew that Kara would probably have liked to see her cousin and it would have been nice to have Clark around as a buffer for Cat. 

Kara was excited to see Lois, she was nervous though. Part of her was worried that this would disrupt things between her and Cat. They had been getting closer; she was scared that Lois could come between them in some way. Whatever it were that had happened between Lois and Cat was in the past but it obviously still affected both of them. Kara couldn’t help but wonder what exactly had happened. Everyone wondered that, it was one of the things that people from both the planet and catco would gossip about. 

People would speculate on if the two had a falling out after Clark got with Lois. If it had to do with a man at all. Had Lois or Cat stolen an important story from the other? It was all asked, no one knew for sure though. Even the people that had been working at the the planet while both Lois and Cat were there, they weren’t even sure what happened between the two women. All anyone knew is that what ever it was had created a rivalry. 

Kara shook the thoughts from her head and smiled, she quickly walked to Lois and wrapped the other woman in a tight hug. It had been so long since she had seen her she truly had missed Lois. “Lois! I’m so happy you’re here. Even if it does put Miss Grant in a bad mood.” 

“I missed you Kara. Clark wishes he could be here but you know how hard it is for him to get the time to visit.”Lois pulled back from the hug and gave Kara a once over, taking in how the other woman had dressed. She hadn’t noticed it at first but now she saw that Kara was wearing a noticeably more expensive outfit than she would usually wear. SHe had opted out of wearing her usual sundresses and went with perfectly fitted slacks and a button down all topped off with a leather jacket. Kara was even wearing heels, she seemed to have abandoned her usual under the radar looks. 

“I heard from Diana that he would be away a while. How are you holding up?” Kara asked sincerely. Kara always worried about others first. It was one of the things that everyone loved about Kara. 

“I”m going good, he sends me updates every few days, so I get to know he’s safe.” Lois had been glad when Kara and Clark had used some of the tech from the fortress of solitude to create a communication device that could keep them in touch even if Clark was off world. 

Kara began leading Lois towards the elevators, the two happily talked about what had been going on in their respective lives since they had last seen each other. Lois asked how she had been handling the pressures of journalism, and about some of Kara’s newest articles. Kara had learned a lot about journalism lately. She was getting better and better with each article. Kara had finally found where she wanted to be in her career. Lois was proud, but she was sure Cat was even prouder. 

Lois would be lying if she said she hadn’t noticed Cat’s fondness for Kara. If she wasn’t mistaken then Cat had feelings for Kara, and Lois was sure that Kara had quite the crush on Cat. Kara had never been very good at hiding things and it was always painfully obvious, whenever Kara would talk about Cat she would go on about how amazing and incredible Ms.Grant is and how she always looks perfect. 

When the two finally approached Cat’s office it was easy to tell that Cat wasn’t excited to see Lois. In Fact the only time Kara had seen Cat more stressed was when her mother would visit. Kara hated seeing Cat like this stressed with all of her walls up. It made Kara want to walk in and do anything it took to make Cat happy again. 

“Lesser Lane.” Cat greeted, she was sipping her coffee. Kara was just glad that Cat hadn’t decided to get vodka instead. 

“Kitty, really do you always have to call me that?” 

“Well you are the lesser Lane, so why wouldn’t I call you it.” Cat’s voice was filled with sass. Usually it would make Kara smile but seeing Cat and Lois argue or whatever it was that they did.

“So why is it you are here again? Did Carr invite you?” Cat said nonchalantly, if someone didn't’ know her then they wouldn’t see that Cat was masking her anger and possibly insecurities. Kara could see it, and she wished she could do something about it. Kara made up her mind she would cheer Cat up today after work.

Over the last few months they had grown closer, and Kara had even gone over to Cat’s home a few times. Kara would play board games with Carter and Cat and they would sit and watch movies. The days after they did that Cat had been happier than Kara had seen her in a long time. Kara hated thinking that Cat would be unhappy. So Kara would change that, she would come up with something to cheer Cat up after work. Maybe they could go out for drinks. Even get dinner with Carter that always made Cat’s day. Kara wanted to have a game/movie night but she wasn’t about to invite herself into Cat’s home. 

“Well we are supposed to be working on that joint article.” Lois matched Cat’s ability to instill fear when she wanted to. Sometimes Kara wondered if Cat had taught Lois that. Or maybe it was the other way around. 

Cat rolled her eyes, of course she knew exactly why Lois was there, she simply didn't’ want to acknowledge that she would have to work with Lois. They certainly didn’t work well together, especially now even years later they still couldn’t get along. 

“Well since I’m busy running a media empire why don’t you and Kiera start working on the joint article and I will try to find the time to work with you later.” Kara flinched at the use of Kiera; usually when Cat used it it didn't have this type of bite to it. The way Cat said it was angry and sounding almost as if Kara had hurt or betrayed her in some way. Kara ha d hoped that Lois showing up wouldn't cause Cat to get angrier with her but apparently she had been wrong.


End file.
